Constitutional Court rejects appeal on Chega's internal elections

The Constitutional Court (TC) rejected Chega's appeal against the February ruling that declared the election of national bodies at the party's 6th convention invalid. The convention was held in Viana do Castelo in early 2024.

According to the ruling, from May, the judges at Palácio Ratton decided to “deny the appeal” filed by Chega, thus confirming the invalidation of the election of the national bodies at the VI National Convention of the Chega Party.

In October of last year, the Constitutional Court had also invalidated the election of the party's national bodies held at the penultimate convention, which took place in Santarém in January 2023.

In a note sent this Monday to the Lusa news agency, two activists – who in the past filed lawsuits challenging the election of the Chega board and national bodies elected at the VI Convention – warn of “the extremely serious situation of illegality in which the party finds itself”.

Both filed lawsuits challenging Chega's internal elections, with Fernando Nóbrega's being the first to receive a court ruling – invalidating the election of the national bodies – and Gregório Teixeira eventually withdrawing his.

Chega activists say they are "exhausted from witnessing, since 2019, a repeated pattern of internal manipulation, lack of democratic scrutiny, and total control of the party by André Ventura, who has led it as a personal and autocratic project."

"With the judicial annulment of the 2024 elections, Chega finds itself without any valid governing bodies. Its current structure is null and void in the eyes of the law. The only legally subsistent bodies are those from the party's founding in 2019, of a technical and provisional nature, whose legitimacy ceased long ago," they add.

Activists also emphasize that this decision is final and cannot be appealed.